McCoy opens this roundup-type post

* The Browns appear ready to start Colt McCoy at quarterback Sunday against the Steelers, and I applaud that decision. The original plan was for McCoy to spend all of 2010 understudying Jake Delhomme and/or Seneca Wallace, but now that they're both out of commission, the only other options are McCoy and Brett Ratliff. Ratliff, who spent all of last season riding the pine for the Browns, is never going to be a regular starter in the NFL. So it's time to throw McCoy in there and see what he can do. His first assignment against a tough Steelers defense is going to be really, really tough, but the kid was great at Texas, and he'll be a fine NFL quarterback in time. Might as well start now.

* What the *#&@ happened to Jerome Harrison? The dude ran for 286 yards in one game last year and was a key to the Browns' season-ending four-game winning streak, but had just 91 on 31 carries this year before he was traded to Philadelphia this week. Of those 91 yards, 39 came on one carry in the opener against Tampa Bay. If you subtract that one run, he went for 52 yards on 30 carries. That's less than two yards per. That's pathetic. No wonder Peyton Hillis has been getting the ball all the time. In return, the Browns got Mike Bell, who has 28 yards on 16 carries. Um ... OK, I'm not sure why we made this trade. Especially with Hillis hurting, I'd have liked to see if Harrison could repeat his 2009 performance if given a real shot. Maybe I just contradicted myself. I can live with that.

* The Buckeyes, who just moved up to No. 1 in the poll, are facing their second real test of the season Saturday when they travel to meet No. 16 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin's only loss was to undefeated Michigan State, and they're always tough at home. Ohio State will have to slow down the Badgers' dual-threat running backs, John Clay and James White. And Terrelle Pryor will have to play mistake-free. Both of those things can happen, but they're not sure things. Should be interesting.

* As my good friend Jeff Brown recently pointed out in an e-mail, the Cavaliers are going into their first post-LeBron season with a serious size issue. Anderson Varejao is the only guy on the roster who's played much center in the NBA, and he's only 6'10" and is really more of a power forward type. They've got 7'0" Ryan Hollins, who will never make anybody forget Shaquille O'Neal -- not even the aging Shaq we saw here last year. These Cavs definitely have some talent around the perimeter -- Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, etc. -- but they face a real risk of getting beaten up badly inside.

* As an Indians fan, it's tough to see guys like CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee carry their teams through the playoffs. Both those guys were key to their teams' success in last year's playoffs, and even though Lee has switched teams again (and again) since then, he's the number-one reason why the Rangers are into the ALCS against CC and the Yankees. It's a terrible shame the Indians couldn't afford to keep those guys. But baseball's economic structure is what it is. The Indians will have to find a way to be competitive with the money they've got. And it can be done -- look at Tampa Bay and Minnesota. They got eliminated in the first round by Sabathia, Lee and company, but they both made the playoffs with very slender payrolls. And Shapiro's Indians have done it too, back in '07. But it's hard to look at these current Indians and see the seeds of a playoff team anytime in the near future.

Good gravy, the Browns have won four straight!

Do you know how many NFL teams ended the 2009 season with at least four straight wins? Three. The AFC West champion Chargers, who have won their last 11; the Texans, who finished 9-7 and only missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker; and your Cleveland Browns. Do you know how many times the Browns have won four straight games since returning to the league as an expansion team? One. The last four games of the 2009 season.

And a team that was once 1-11 won their last four to finish 5-11. What are the odds of that? Has that ever happened before? I checked the Elias Sports Bureau's "Elias Says," and they don't have any information about that, but they do point out that Pro Bowler Josh Cribbs is only the second player in league history to score touchdowns on a kickoff return, a punt return, a reception and a rush (Brian Westbrook is the other); and with 127 rushing yards in Sunday's finale against the Jaguars, Jerome Harrison racked up 561 yards over the last three games, the second-highest total in league history (O.J. Simpson had 647 in 1976).

The Browns have known for months that they weren't going to get into the playoffs, but the visiting Jaguars went into yesterday's game with a 7-8 record and a chance, albeit a very slim one, of qualifying for the postseason tournament. But it was the Browns who looked as if they were playing for something yesterday. They closed the season with a 23-17 victory that would have been 23-10 if not for the Jags' meaningless final drive. There was never any doubt about this one.

The Browns won despite just 86 passing yards from Derek Anderson, probably in his last start as a Brown, possibly in his last game as a Brown. But Anderson only threw the ball 11 times, completing seven. He did throw a pick. But this game was won on the ground, with another fine performance from Harrison, plus 47 rushing yards from Cribbs and 38 yards from Chris Jennings. Jennings turned in a fine performance off the bench. Remember that run where he was trapped behind the line of scrimmage, then reversed course and wound up going for 11 yards? That kid's got talent.

And the Browns' defense played well too, holding the Jaguars to 328 total yards. Eric Mangini is a defense-minded coach, and should be pleased with the strides his defense has made this year. If he's back next year, presumably a new offensive coordinator will come in and run Mike Holmgren's preferred West Coast offense. I'd think they could work that out. If not, Mangini has made a case for his next job.

Either way, I can't wait to see this Browns team next year.

Two in a row? Yeah, that's right!

Never mind that the second win in the Browns' two-game winning streak came against one of the worst teams in the NFL. The Browns are also one of the worst teams in the NFL, so any win is worth celebrating.

The story of the Browns' 41-34 win over the Kansas City Chiefs obviously centers around Josh Cribbs and Jerome Harrison, both of whom set records in the game. Cribbs returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, both for three-digit yardage, and they were his seventh and eighth career kickoff returns for touchdowns. That makes him, at age 26, the NFL's career leader in scores on kickoff returns; the previous record of six was held by five others. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest kickoff returner in NFL history plays for the Cleveland Browns. Not bad for a guy who signed as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State in 2005. Just think of that! Any team in the NFL could have had him, instead of whoever they drafted in the seventh round that year. Without looking at the draft list, I'd wager every last one of them would trade that player for Cribbs.

But Harrison was just as good in this game, if not better. And his story is every bit as unlikely. Harrison came into the game with just 301 rushing yards this season, and just 750 in his four-year career, most of which has been spent as Jamal Lewis' backup. But he ran wild over the Chiefs yesterday, piling up 286 yards, the best single-game rushing performance in Browns history (any time you can break a record held by Jim Brown, that's got to feel pretty good) and the third-best in NFL history, behind the aforementioned Mr. Lewis and the Vikings' Adrian Peterson. Had the game gone into overtime, he'd have probably gotten the record — though I'm sure he's glad it didn't.

Harrison scored three rushing touchdowns, running it in from 71, 8, and 28 yards. It seemed like every time he was handed the ball, he was snapping off at least seven or eight yards. Harrison totally dominated the second half, much as Cribbs dominated the first half. He benefited from some great blocking up front — the same great blocking that allowed Brady Quinn to rush for 39 yards on just four carries — but credit Harrison for making the most of the opportunity.

Speaking of Harrison, I got this curious e-mail from regular Of Fair Hooker correspondent Jeff Brown:

What do you make of Jerome Harrison? Some game, eh? (third highest rushing total in the history of the No Fun League!)

However, what do you make of his "hot dogging" at the end of his last touchdown run, where he straddled the goal line and taunted the defender who was feebly trying to chase him down?

Jeff is a close friend, and I respect his observational ability, but I have no idea where he came up with that. Harrison was not hot-dogging, and I surely didn't see any taunting. With less than a minute left in the game as the Browns were scoring a tie-breaking touchdown, it seemed obvious to me that Harrison was just trying to tick a couple of seconds more off the clock, and give Matt Cassel just a little bit less time to work with.

Regardless, in this dismal season the Browns have had, this was one to remember. With all the talk of Mike Holmgren coming in and possibly taking over the coaching reins in addition to a hypothetical GM role, this must have felt great to Eric Mangini and his staff. And it's far from inconceivable that the Browns could make it three in a row next week against the 5-9 Raiders, though they're playing better lately too, winning three of their last five, including an improbable 20-19 upset of the Broncos yesterday. I sure look forward to watching that game, and I don't think I've said that about the Browns all year.